Beam Chain: The Next Innovation of Ethereum

The recently concluded 2024 Devcon conference in Bangkok attracted widespread attention, with representatives from various sectors of the Ethereum ecosystem gathering to discuss the latest developments and future directions. During the conference, several important projects announced their latest updates, bringing new ideas and development opportunities to the global Web3 space.

Among them, the concept of "Ethereum 3.0" proposed by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake is particularly noteworthy. This consensus layer upgrade proposal, known as Beam Chain, aims to alleviate the computational and communication burdens on validators through zero-knowledge proof technology, thereby lowering the threshold for becoming a validator. This not only helps attract more validators to join the network and enhance security but also reduces computational redundancy and improves overall network efficiency. Additionally, Drake hopes to take this opportunity to address historical technical debt in the Beacon Chain and prepare for potential quantum computing threats in the future.

This proposal aligns with Vitalik's previous idea on the Ethereum Snarkification in The Verge roadmap. In his latest interpretation, Vitalik acknowledged that the transformation of the consensus layer is a challenging task that requires continuous optimization in the future. The proposal from Beam Chain can be seen as a concrete response to how to achieve the Snarkification of the consensus layer.

Beam Chain mainly focuses on the transformation of the consensus layer. Specifically, this involves the Snarkification of state transition functions, including the state transition functions for each time slot, each block, and each epoch. These functions cover the execution of consensus algorithms and staking logic, block proposals, execution layer result verification, Merkle root verification, verification and aggregation of consensus signatures, hash computations, as well as staking and redemption operations involving account storage state access. It is worth noting that while Ethereum promotes the Snarkification of the consensus layer, it still prioritizes decentralization and diversity, therefore it does not enforce the adoption of specific zero-knowledge proof algorithms and protocols, but rather allows proposers to choose independently.

The core challenge of realizing the Beam Chain concept lies in how to significantly improve the proof efficiency, reducing the current proof time from tens or even hundreds of seconds to the level of seconds. Justin proposed the idea of using ASIC acceleration methods at a recent seminar, suggesting that the entire process from evidence generation to proof should be completed on dedicated chips, in order to increase the proof generation time by more than ten times in the coming years and achieve true real-time proof.

Multiple research teams are actively advancing the performance optimization and application expansion of zero-knowledge proof technology. For example, some teams are focused on utilizing hardware platforms such as GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs to accelerate the ZK proof process, achieving significant performance improvements in various ZK systems. At the same time, in the AI+ZK direction, some teams have also made breakthrough progress in verifiable computing for large models, significantly reducing proof generation time.

In addition, in the face of potential quantum computing threats, some teams have begun exploring the application of post-quantum cryptography in blockchain, and have maintained on-chain transaction processing capabilities as much as possible while ensuring security through optimizing consensus processes and low-latency memory reads.

With the proposal of Beam Chain, it is expected to guide more researchers to focus on the transformation of the consensus layer, sparking more innovative ideas. The joint advancement of the Snarkification of the consensus layer and execution layer will bring significant breakthroughs for the scalability and decentralization of Ethereum. Meanwhile, virtual machines based on zero-knowledge proof technology are expected to play a core role in the Ethereum ecosystem. By introducing SNARK proofs and post-quantum cryptography, combined with lower staking thresholds and faster block confirmation times, Beam Chain is expected to bring stronger decentralization characteristics and higher performance to Ethereum.